Santa Fe

Date: July 18, 2002
Current location: Santa Fe, NM
Odometer: ?



Today we were a little smarter about finding a trail that we can manage.  This time we didn't trust an employee at the hotel to send us to a trail and have it turn out to be a world-class trail.  We trusted Google to find a trail that we could enjoy.  We ended up at El Dorado Tracks and it was great.  It still was challenging and fun and required us to walk for parts.

Here are the tracks on the left and the trail on the right.  The little washed out ravine in the middle of the trail was tough to avoid sometimes and liked to grab your front tire.  The trail rolls up and down, but never much more than about thirty feet up or down.
trail one  
Here is Julie pondering a moderately wavy part of the trail.  There was very little shade, but it's a "dry heat," so even in the 95 degree heat, it didn't feel all that hot while riding.
  trail two
Julie wisely stopped at the top of this very steep hill and I said, "I'll go down first and you can see if I wipe out."  The trail had lots of sand made it hard to use brakes at the top, then it had a couple of sharp turns.  I couldn't make one of the turns and flew over the handlebars and over a 5-foot drop off.  In this shot, you can just make out the shape of me heading down the hill to my doom.
just before a crash
It turns out that the tracks are actually active.
train
After the ride, we came back to town and wandered the city a little.  The buildings in the city limits seem to adhere to very strict zoning regulations.  Even this parking garage looks like building out of Disney World.
Santa Fe zoning: all adobe, all the time
We're already planning our return trip.
come back

Next stop is Taos.


How to contact us:
    rfd@finninday.net
    jfd@finninday.net